March 6, 2015
ALBANY, NY – State Senator Tom O’Mara (R Big Flats) is calling for increased state funding to support the expansion of a new treatment program for military servicemen and servicewomen suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.
O’Mara says that the project’s Executive Director is Dr. Frank Bourke of Corning, a clinical psychologist with more than three decades of experience in the field. O’Mara said that he’s worked with Bourke over the past several years to help advance and promote the Research & Recognition Project in support of veterans and military families.
“It’s a debilitating illness severely impacting the lives of thousands of our brave men and women returning from the battlefield,” said O’Mara, noting studies that have shown that 30 percent of soldiers develop mental health concerns within 3 to 4 months of returning home. “I think we have a duty and a responsibility to do whatever is possible to provide our military men and women with treatments that can help them overcome the harrowing effects of PTSD and regain a healthy and productive life. ”
O’Mara and several of his Senate colleagues are urging the inclusion of $1.6 million in the 2015-2016 New York State budget for what’s known as the NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) Research & Recognition Project – an innovative, cutting-edge treatment that has shown exciting and successful a dvances in the treatment of PTSD among veterans in New York State over the past several years at Fort Drum and other state facilities where it’s being used, particularly in the mid-Hudson Valley.
Click here to read more about the project .
Click here to see video of Senator O’Mara’s speech about PTSD